The Last Visitors

David (and Molly), the last visitors I have staying this summer before I return to New Zealand next week left this afternoon on a ferry delayed by bad weather last evening.  After a long weekend of rain and gales today turned out to be sunny and dry (though windy) and we were able to get a short walk in the Lews Castle Grounds after lunch (at The Woodlands) before the ferry sailed.  The last of my visitors this summer has left.  I have seven sleeps before I set off for my New Zealand life again.  

A dog running at some considerable speed with a complete lack of any spacial awareness and a large stick in its mouth can deliver a hefty whack to the back of one's legs.  The problem is that she travels fairly quietly so that she's delivered the blow before you have time to get out of the way.  On one occasion Molly actually hit me so hard that the stick snapped out of her mouth and I thought that she'd broken her neck.  No.  She picked up the stick.  Looked accusingly at me as though it had been my fault and continued her journey - at speed!

I shall miss them.

We Did IT

I don't think that I've felt quite so het up about a match in any sport at all since the days when I was a member of the Lancashire Cricket Club in 1975 and used to follow cricket pretty intensively.  Perhaps the occasional Ashes match since then has got the adrenalin running.  One of the things about living in New Zealand (even only part time as I do) is that it is virtually impossible not to get carried away with the enthusiasm for sport.  So today when the All Blacks were playing France in the final of the Rubgy World Club I could hardly cope with the excitement I felt.  Until the match started with the ABs not playing well and Piri Weepu missing three kicks in succession it had never occurred to me that the ABs wouldn't carry the day and be the World Champions.  It came as a rude awakening when the ABs were struggling against a French side which had hardly covered itself with glory and was (in my eyes anyway) only in the final because of a bad refereeing decision in the semi final against Wales.

It may surprise those of you not in New Zealand that a recent poll showed that 40% of the population of New Zealand were more concerned about who won the RWC than who won next month's General Election.

To make life more challenging for me David supported the French so there were some, er, interesting moments during the match.  Now he's taken Molly for her belated morning walk and I'm left to finish the champagne on my own.

Captain Richie McCaw shakes the hand of Prime Minister John Key

Old Age Cometh Not Alone

I knew that the above saying which is in common use on Lewis where I live was from one of the Psalms of David (I might be atheist but I do have some knowledge of the Bible!) but I couldn't recall which one (Psalm 71 Verse 9 for the record).  What does one do when one doesn't know something like that?  One Googles it.  Which is exactly what I did.  But what came up 4th on the first page?  A post I wrote on A Hebridean in New Zealand on 11 April 2010 entitled, wait for it.... Age Cometh Not Alone.

On that occasion I had stepped into the shower with my spectacles on. A few days ago I heated some cappelletti in their sauce in the microwave thinking that I was re-heating something I'd cooked the day before.  I wasn't.  I hadn't cooked them.  Uncooked cappelletti are not appealing.  In fact they are inedible. 

Much, much worse than that, however, was the fact that I was watching The News on TV on our Friday evening to discover that I had missed the Wales v Australia  match!  I thought that it was on NZ Saturday evening not Friday evening.  To add insult to injury the recorder (which was automatically set to record all the RWC matches started on time and recorded exactly one minute!!).

Old age definitely cometh not alone.

I just hope that the Final comes up to expectations.  David and I will be glued to it: David shouting for France and me shouting for the team that's going to win!!!

Go the All Blacks.

Molly taking Us For a Walk

What an intelligent face is that!  Shame about the chap with two legs though.